Jointly reported by:
Craig Ng Sr1ScA
Khoo Xin Yi Sr1ScA
It is generally recognized that sexual assault is happening and incidents are increasing day by day. This is alarming indeed. To raise the awareness of sexual assault among teens, a Talk related to the Prevention and Self-protection was held on the 25th of June. All Senior Middle One students from Kuen Cheng High School were invited to participate in the talk which lasted for around 2 hours last Saturday morning.
To start with, our guest speaker, Ms Ding I Ling, briefly introduced herself. As a victim care officer, Ms Ding explained the duties of the Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division (D11) of the Criminal Investigation Department, Perak Polis DiRaja Malaysia.
Introduction to Malaysia’s Police Department
In the following section, Ms Ding frankly admitted that the modern day mode of crime has shifted to online assault. Furthermore, victims are forced by various factors and dare not speak up for themselves. Eventually, this contributes to the frequent occurrence of this type of crime pattern in the society. To further emphasize on such crimes, Ms Ding shared a video regarding a social experiment where teenagers were led to believe the sweet talk and lies of online predators.
Reported Cases of Sexual Assault on Social Media
Ms Ding continued with several more relevant cases. For instance, Richard Huckle, a British pedophile, was arrested for baiting more than 200 Malaysian and Cambodian children a decade ago. Consequently, his final verdict was 22 life sentences served concurrently with a minimum jail term of 25 years. The statistics lead us to the conclusion that the victims share similar characteristics. These cybercriminals first use social media-based communication channels to gain the trust of the victims by lures, coaxes, and threats. Then, they open up sexual topics, and invite victims to meet, coax or coerce them into doing illicit acts with them.
Catfishing Through Social Media
Moving on, Ms Ding brought up a series of questions that were given to teenagers, mostly regarding their opinions on the morality of sexual intimacy. Among the Malaysian teenagers, most seemed to be more conservative towards the topic, yet the reasons they would ever commit such acts were said to be due to peer pressure or merely for the experience.
Building a Healthy Relationship with the Opposite Gender
Ms Ding later advised the participants to find the right partner for themselves, specifically one with a healthy outlook on life. She also mentioned the importance of saying “no” whenever necessary. The right judgement may mitigate the occurance of a forced sexual relationship.
Thereafter, Ms Ding reminded the participants about Malaysia’s laws on sexual assault and the current age restrictions on related matters. However, no crime can be uncovered without first being reported. There is no such instance of a victimless crime. Ms Ding emphasized the importance of speaking up for oneself, especially as a victim of sexual assault.
To end the webinar off, a quick Q&A session was held in case of any doubts the participants had for Ms Ding. It was an enlightening session of Ms Ding’s Talk with a range of topics discussed.
MCMC Complaint Portal for Cybercrime Reports